Olympic 400m champion Cathy Freeman is planning an early return to the athletics track.

The Australian took an extended break after her Sydney triumph but then put her comeback on hold earlier this year after her husband was diagnosed with cancer.

But with her husband's condition improving and following her gold in the women's 4x400m relay at the Commonwealth Games, she is keen to get back into competition.

"I started training two weeks ago because after the gold medal in Manchester I got really hungry," she told the Sydney's Sun-Herald newspaper.

"I was always hungry - but like demonic, crazy, possessed, like that pre-Sydney Olympics thing. The obsession came back."

The performances of Mexican Ana Guevara have also fired Freeman's competitive instincts.

Freeman said Guevara is "running fantastic times right now and I don't like that.

"I love the competition but I don't like not being there to race her."